Conventional robotic systems include lifts provided for moving robotic devices in a vertical direction. However, the number of lifts in any efficient robotic system employing multiple robots is substantially less than the number of robots. Therefore, “bottlenecks” are created near the lifts, reducing the throughput of the robotic system.
Therefore, there is a need for a new “self-lifting” technique that would enable a robotic device to move in a vertical direction without assistance of an external lift.
A robotic system may be installed in a retail storage facility or warehouse, in which robotic devices would provide access to multiple storage racks. When the retail storage facility or warehouse is provided in an existing building, the storage racks need to be installed in directions defined by walls of rooms in this building. If a room has a non-rectangular shape, one storage rack section has to be installed along a direction which is not orthogonal with respect to a direction of another storage rack section.
To provide access to storage rack sections arranged in non-orthogonal directions, there is a need for a robotic device capable of moving not only in mutually perpendicular horizontal directions, but in any desired horizontal directions.